Over 50s in Cheshire West and Chester will be able to enjoy a festival in the Storyhouse cultural centre.

Storyhouse is hosting The Great Get Together over the weekend of June 22-24 as part of its Celebrating Age programme in conjunction with Brightlife, a partnership led by Age UK Cheshire to improve the lives of older people.

It works to tackle loneliness and isolation across the borough.

The event has been designed with older people living in Cheshire West to provide a weekend festival of performances, workshops, talks, films, crafts and debates geared towards a 50+ audience.

All of the activities have been created in consultation with older people through a ‘Think-In’ held earlier in the year to find out what people wanted to see, do, share or learn.

The Great Get Together is a national campaign inspired by the late MP Jo Cox who is said to have been passionate about tackling loneliness and social isolation.

Storyhouse in Chester is to host a festival for the over 50s (Image: UGC TCH)

People around the country will be joining in with community events and activities with the Storyhouse festival being a double celebration as the venue, which has just reached its first birthday, hosted the weekend last year soon after it opened its doors.

The packed programme of events and activities will include a Share a Memory booth where people can make an audio recording of a memory to keep it alive in a gallery to be showcased on the Brightlife website.

For those looking for something more hands-on, Age UK Cheshire’s Shedders from the Men In Sheds project will be helping visitors make bird-boxes while other sessions will include a Tai Chi taster session, jewellery making, painting for pleasure classes, a vintage photo-booth, dancing, singing and bug-hotel making.

Chris McClelland, head of Brightlife said: “We are delighted to be hosting our Great Get Together in partnership with Storyhouse in such a beautiful, age friendly, iconic venue.

“Our work at Brightlife is to reduce loneliness and social isolation in the over 50s and we know that sometimes it can be making that first step to try something new which is the most difficult.

“We work all over the borough of Cheshire West and Chester but Storyhouse is an ideal venue to host the many different activities we have organised and I am confident it will be another busy weekend bringing people together.”

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What's happening at Storyhouse in Chester

The Brightlife partnership includes Age UK Cheshire, the Older People’s Network, Cheshire West and Chester Council, West Cheshire CCG, Vale Royal CCG, Cheshire and Warrington Social Enterprise Partnership, Chester Voluntary Action, Deafness Support Network, Rural Community Services, Sanctuary Housing and the West Cheshire Inter Faith Forum.

A full line-up of the weekend is available at www.storyhouse.com/the-great-get-together.